CNY_Dave

I know my '03 LL bean outback has tires rated one notch higher than the 4cyl outbacks, supposedly because the greater weight necessitated stiffer sidewalls for adequate performance during accident-avoidance maneuvers. Of course tire shops will let you put 80mph rated snows on it, so it's all a bit crazy.

The H6 has a head-gasket problem at a rate equal or less than any car that has no unusual rate of failure, I think. No matter how good the gasket or the surfaces or the clamping, some small number will have a problem. I would check the oil (and under the oil cap) for signs of moisture, and look under the heads for a greenish tint on the visible edges of the gasket. If no signs, I'd call it good.

I am monitoring the oil for any signs of contamination, and had the pan off to change it (rust through from the outside) just a few weeks ago. My leak is coming from the area between the two end oil passages seen in this photo: I can see not adding the conditioner to a new or freshly gasketed engine, but a calculated risk at 190,000 miles plus I think it's a reasonable gamble.

The gunk has been in awhile, I took a quick look the other day and didn't see any 'wet', where before there was, but I'm not chalking a mark in the 'win' column by any means.

If one bottle doesn't do it, yeah, I'm not going to add more. I could see how what was safe with one bottle could be not safe with more, as these don't really have a large coolant capacity. I did notice just removing a hose and then re-installing it caused one of them to swell a bit right at the clamp, before adding any of the schmutz, probably time for new hoses.

I agree there are very few magic cures in a bottle (trans-x for delayed fwd engagement syndrome being one of them), and there are many coolant leak sealers that are a crime to use, but I could not find a single case of someone regretting using the holt's radweld (other than spending 2 bucks and having it not work), and found a few cases across various manufacturers where it worked so I'm giving it a shot. Maybe it'll stop my summer-only transient heater core leaks-just-enough-to-cloud-the-windshield leak.

I filed the edges with great care. If I have lead a virtuous life the fact that I put the seal in a skosh too far will move the seal away from where the old seal rubbed the pulley and leaked... There are small divots where the pulley has been balanced by drilling away a tiny bit of material, so it was balanced at some point.

The flange is thin cast iron, so yeah, pretty weak. I have run with a chipped pulley before, worried less as it was an old honda clunker.

Has not been a good day- dropped the NEW pulley (it slipped off the shaft so easy all of a sudden I lost my grip on it) at it took out about an inch of the outer flange- heh, how critical is it that it be balanced? Going to find out... I also was tapping the seal in and it went in a skosh further than intended. Oh joy...

The head gaskets have had a greenish tint for at least 50,000 miles (at 100 miles/day that's not such a long time). This is the 1st time there has been any drops of goo, though.

You've seen the magic goop plug up radiators and heater cores? Not an expense I'd want to add.

2003 H6, 190K with a little green spooge on the head gasket. Not sure if I will (when forced to) pull the heads with the engine in place, or pull the engine, try to just find another engine (rebuilt or lower miles than my 190K), or just throw money at the dealer to do it. I'll get some of the dealers magic head-gasket schmutz Wednesday as a last-ditch attempt at putting the job off. Looking at the torque-converter to flywheel bolts under the car, behind the oil pan, how the hell do you get a socket in there, and how on earth do you get the bolts back in?

On these outbacks, I don't think so. They essentially bolt to the outside of the car.

The H6 has the water pump more towards the middle, driven by the timing chain so the nipples actually go directly into the huge oil-pan casting right under the lower hose/thermostat. They do actually go into the rear housing of the water-pump which is cast into the lower oil-pan. If the H4s are different I guess that's why I never heard of them being replaced before.

I've replaced a few oil seals in my time, just wondering if there are any 'gotchas' on the H6. Looked like a 'normal' job when I just had the thing all apart to replace the crank pulley (dealer forgot to order the seal)

Heh, my right hand one is like this. I'm going to dry it out and find where the seal broke after I am done replacing the crank pulley and seal, the oil pan, and the steel coolant lines that are just about rusted through. Drying it out fully is the trick. I have put them in an oven that has been set for a very low temp, but only after the oven has been turned off. A hair dryer would probably work OK, a heat gun would be a bad idea. The plastic gets soft at a surprisingly low temperature.

I was under the car changing the oil pan (rusted enough to leak) and I saw one of the nipples that press into the block (actually the lower oil-pan) right next to the thermostat is fairly rusty. I have confirmed subaru cannot get the part. Anyone ever replace one of these somehow? I assume if no replacement is available I would have to remove the bad nipple and tap the hole for a threaded nipple (hmmm, steel or brass?), unless I could get lucky and find some steel line (big brake line?) that could be a decent press-fit. Tapping the hole for a tapered nipple would be nerve-wracking, given how thin the boss in the casting is right there. Would also have to make sure it didn't introduce a restriction as the only coolant flow before the thermostat opens is through that line.

Permatex UltraGrey is equivalent to the fujibond. Just used it to replace my rusted-out oil pan.

Well while changing the oil pan I see I'm paying for the dealer forgetting to order the oil seal and doing the job without it- now I get to do it all over again and put in a new oil seal.

I got the pulley from the dealer, but I hope I don't need the oil seal or the bolt-cap, they didn't order them. Looks like I'll be putting some silicone sealer on the crank before putting on the pulley so oil doesn't creep out (like on every other timing-chain engine). My pulley holder fits OK, though.

And I assume everyone knows you are supposed to tighten the puller bolt, then beat on the bolt, and repeat... If the puller bolt tightens up even a tiny bit more after hammering the bolt, at least you know you are making progress.

I think this style holds an edge in strength, and in transferring hammer blows to the axle. I haven't really challenged mine yet, though.

Just made a gen-2 H6 crank holder, the crank pulley has 4 12mm holes on a 65mm circle, the subaru tool is just 4 pins welded into holes in a thick plate with a handle, with a big hole in the middle to clear the crank bolt socket. I didn't have 12mm pins or thick sheet metal 9or thin plate) so the plate that holds the pins is 3 pieces of 16ga mild steel brazed at the edges and around the center hole. 7/16 bolts are close to 12mm but to give me some fudge factor I used 3/8 grade-8 bolts, brazed at the top only so as to not weaken them. If they twist I'll have to braze 'em at the bottom too, or just pull 'em out and use nuts and bolts (I didn't want to space it out from the crank by using nuts).

I decided since there was a tool, and a pic of the tool, and I love an excuse to fab something, and there's less chance of introducing a new problem, and I hate digging around on the back of the engine, I'd fab something.

Well, if it's strong enough and I didn't mess up the bolt circle, I should be good to go. I used 3 pieces of 16ga sheet steel, brazed together at the edges and around the clearance hole for the crank pulley bolt socket, 4 3/8ths grade-8 bolts brazed in place on the top only. If they twist I'll have to braze them at the bottom as well, didn't do so because I don't want to weaken them.